How Being an Authorized User Affects Your Credit Bankrate Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Advertiser Disclosure
Advertiser Disclosure
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover. SHARE: On This Page
Westend61/Getty Images August 15, 2022 Checkmark Bankrate logo How is this page expert verified? At Bankrate, we take the accuracy of our content seriously. "Expert verified" means that our Financial Review Board thoroughly evaluated the article for accuracy and clarity. The Review Board comprises a panel of financial experts whose objective is to ensure that our content is always objective and balanced. Their reviews hold us accountable for publishing high-quality and trustworthy content. Nicole Dieker has been a full-time freelance writer since 2012—and a personal finance enthusiast since 2004, when she graduated from college and, looking for financial guidance, found a battered copy of Your Money or Your Life at the public library. In addition to writing for Bankrate, her work has appeared on CreditCards.com, Vox, Lifehacker, Popular Science, The Penny Hoarder, The Simple Dollar and NBC News. Dieker spent five years as writer and editor for The Billfold, a personal finance blog where people had honest conversations about money. Dieker also teaches writing, freelancing and publishing classes and works one-on-one with authors as a developmental editor and copyeditor. Cathleen's stories on design, travel and business have appeared in dozens of publications including the Washington Post, Town & Country, Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, Fodor’s Travel, Departures and The Writer. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of the offers mentioned may have expired. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate, we have a mission to demystify the credit cards industry — regardless or where you are in your journey — and make it one you can navigate with confidence. Our team is full of a diverse range of experts from credit card pros to data analysts and, most importantly, people who shop for credit cards just like you. With this combination of expertise and perspectives, we keep close tabs on the credit card industry year-round to: Meet you wherever you are in your credit card journey to guide your information search and help you understand your options. Consistently provide up-to-date, reliable market information so you're well-equipped to make confident decisions. Reduce industry jargon so you get the clearest form of information possible, so you can make the right decision for you. At Bankrate, we focus on the points consumers care about most: rewards, welcome offers and bonuses, APR, and overall customer experience. Any issuers discussed on our site are vetted based on the value they provide to consumers at each of these levels. At each step of the way, we fact-check ourselves to prioritize accuracy so we can continue to be here for your every next. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. There are many ways to improve your credit score. You can open a secured credit card and begin making small purchases and on-time payments. You can look into alternative credit scoring methods that include reporting your rent and utility payments to the credit bureaus. You can keep the credit accounts you currently have, pay off any outstanding debt and watch your score improve as your age of credit increases. Or you could become an authorized user on someone else’s credit card. When you become an authorized user on another person’s credit card, you’re putting a portion of your credit score into their hands. If they use their account responsibly, you could see your credit score go up — but if they miss payments or if the two of you use the card to make purchases they can’t pay off, you might start to see your score go down.
What is an authorized user
An is a person who is able to make purchases on somebody else’s credit account. People often add partners and spouses as authorized users on their credit cards, for example. And parents sometimes add their to help teens build a credit history and learn how to use credit responsibly. Authorized users receive credit cards that are connected to the primary cardholder’s line of credit, but they are not responsible for paying off the charges they make on those cards. The person whose name is on the credit account is fully responsible for all charges made to the card. In other words, if you make someone an authorized user on your credit card and they run up a huge debt, you’re the one who’s ultimately responsible for . Taking on an authorized user makes you liable for any mistakes made along that way. So choose your authorized users carefully. It is always important to establish a reimbursement plan with an authorized user so they can contribute to the charges they make each billing cycle. Does being an authorized user affect your credit
Being an authorized user can affect your credit in both positive and negative ways — but it can also have no effect on your credit whatsoever. There are two factors you need to consider: Whether the lender reports authorized users to the credit bureaus Whether both the credit account owner and the authorized user use their shared account responsibly In order for your authorized user account to affect your credit, the lender or credit card issuer needs to report that account to the (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). If the lender doesn’t report activity from authorized user accounts to the credit bureaus, then those accounts won’t influence your credit rating. Authorized user accounts must show up on your credit report to affect your credit score. If they do, you might see your score change as soon as the lender starts reporting that information to the credit bureaus, which can take as little as 30 days. Once the authorized user account is part of your credit history, it can benefit your credit score as long as both you and the primary account holder use the account responsibly. If the account holder makes regular on-time payments, for example, you would also get credit for those payments (pun intended) and your credit score could go up. On the other hand, if you and the credit account holder run up a high on the credit account, both of your credit scores could take a hit. How does an authorized user build credit
An authorized user builds credit when the credit account holder maintains responsible credit habits that help a credit score grow, such as making on-time payments and paying off balances in full. If the credit account holder is not using the credit card responsibly, you might want to remove yourself as an authorized user from the card. You can also build your credit by taking out at least one credit card in your own name, in addition to your authorized user card. A secured credit card is an . You put down a small deposit in exchange for a small line of credit. Once you’ve proven you can handle your credit card responsibly, you’ll get your deposit back and receive a credit line increase. Here are our picks for the . If you’d rather not take out a secured credit card, you can also look into our top picks for . These cards might come with higher interest rates and fewer rewards than cards for people with or , but they’re still solid options for people who are hoping to build their credit scores. The risks of being an authorized user
There is always a risk to being an authorized user. For starters, keep in mind that being an authorized user might not impact your credit score at all. In order for a credit account to impact your credit score, it must be reported to the credit bureaus. If your credit card issuer doesn’t report authorized user activity to one of the three credit bureaus, your credit score will not be impacted. From the primary cardholder’s perspective, it is the liability that comes with having an authorized user. They are legally responsible for any debt that may come up over time. For the authorized user, piggybacking on someone else’s credit card account can backfire if the primary cardholder pays the bill late or runs up a big balance, for example. If you find yourself as either person in this scenario, (or remove the authorized user) from the equation. Oftentimes it just takes a phone call or submitting an online request to the credit card issuer to remove yourself (or someone else) from the account. If you are the cardholder, call the number on the back of your card in order to speak with a customer service representative about removing an authorized user from the account. If you are trying to remove yourself as an authorized user, the process is the same as mentioned above. The process to varies by credit card issuer, but the outcome will always be the same. Graduating to primary cardholder
When you start your credit journey as an authorized user, it is important to establish a few goals before diving in blind. And one of those should be your exit plan. You probably don’t want to be an authorized user forever, but use your time as one to learn how best to handle credit. By taking on the responsibility as an authorized user, you are working towards building strong credit habits while establishing a credit score you can use to your advantage when you are ready to take the next step. Once you feel ready to take the next step, ideally within one-to-two years, consider of your own. By this point you should have a credit score that will allow you to be the primary cardholder on your next card. Here are our picks for the . Now, you may be wondering if removing yourself as an authorized user affects your credit, and the short answer is potentially. If the credit account you are removing yourself from is your oldest line of credit, your credit history will be shorter because of this. makes up 15 percent of your overall FICO score, so your score may be affected. But you can minimize the impact by applying for a credit card as soon as possible. At the end of the day, has a larger impact on your overall creditworthiness than length of credit history. The bottom line
Becoming an authorized user can help you history and boost your credit score, but it shouldn’t be the only tool in your credit-building tool box. You should also take out credit cards in your own name and practice using those cards responsibly in order to see your score improve over time. SHARE: Nicole Dieker has been a full-time freelance writer since 2012—and a personal finance enthusiast since 2004, when she graduated from college and, looking for financial guidance, found a battered copy of Your Money or Your Life at the public library. In addition to writing for Bankrate, her work has appeared on CreditCards.com, Vox, Lifehacker, Popular Science, The Penny Hoarder, The Simple Dollar and NBC News. Dieker spent five years as writer and editor for The Billfold, a personal finance blog where people had honest conversations about money. Dieker also teaches writing, freelancing and publishing classes and works one-on-one with authors as a developmental editor and copyeditor. Cathleen's stories on design, travel and business have appeared in dozens of publications including the Washington Post, Town & Country, Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, Fodor’s Travel, Departures and The Writer. Related Articles